3 biggest culprits in the Wild Card Series loss

1) Biggest culprits in the Wild Card Series defeat: Max Scherzer

This should be no surprise. The Mets turned to three-time Cy Young Award winner, World Champion, and future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer to try and get the Mets off to a good start in this series. Game 1 was always going to be a challenge because of the Mets inability to hit Yu Darvish, but I and Mets fans around the world assumed Scherzer could go toe to toe with the Padres ace.

Scherzer put the Mets in an early hole, allowing a two-run homer before the Mets came to bat. This was the first of four home runs Scherzer allowed in this game.

He was shockingly awful. Everything was left out over the middle of the plate for Padres hitters to crush and to their credit, they did. This came after a disappointing start in the aforementioned Atlanta series.

The Mets signed Scherzer to a deal that paid him $43 million dollars annually for starts like this. The Mets were built for Scherzer and Jacob deGrom to carry them and that just didn't happen. Even when deGrom didn't have his best stuff, he battled and gave the Mets a chance to win. Scherzer let this game get out of hand.

This team was built on starting pitching and the Mets best starters didn't come through when it mattered most. Scherzer is front and center. Hopefully he will be better down the stretch in 2023.